Retail Stores

The holidays are upon us, and retailers are preparing for the influx of shopping activity both online and in-store in hopes of boosting traffic and sales. As the busiest shopping season of the year, retailers can stand to reap big rewards, but it’s important to remember that consumers shop differently during the holidays than they…

Gymboree is considering closing more than half of its approximately 900 stores, people familiar with the matter said on Tuesday. The move would be a setback for the retailer of infant and children’s clothing after it emerged from bankruptcy last year. Gymboree was one of the few brick-and-mortar retailers that managed to escape liquidation in a wave…

A record $6.22 billion was spent online by the end of Black Friday, an increase of 23.6 percent year-over-year, according to data from Adobe Analytics. What's more, smaller retailers (less than $1 billion in annual e-commerce revenue) were 8.6 percent more effective at getting visitors to fill shopping carts. The holiday season to date (Nov. 1 – Nov. 24) shows $44.2…

In episode 173 of Total Retail Talks, recorded at this year's Shop.org conference in Las Vegas, Rich Sargente, general manager and vice president of sales at BARK, maker of the BarkBox, a subscription commerce model that sells dog toys and treats to pet owners, discusses the brand's push into physical retail. Specifically, Sargente addresses BARK's wholesale…

According to various analysts, Black Friday is off to a promising start for retailers — both in-store and online. According to a survey of mall property owners by JLL, 62.5 percent said the initial foot traffic at their center was "moderate to strong" compared to last year's Black Friday. And the traffic isn't limited to…

Gap Inc. is considering shutting hundreds of its namesake stores at shopping malls as sales at the Gap brand continue to slide. The retailer said Tuesday evening that it still has 775 Gap-branded stores globally, in addition to those under the Old Navy, Banana Republic and Athleta banners. Gap Inc. has more than 3,000 stores around the…

Judging by consumer responses, retailers need to address the challenges that characterized the 2017 holiday shopping season by addressing issues such as long lines and out-of-stock complaints. Both human and technology/operational fixes can be brought to bear.

As part of our coverage of Total Retail's recently released Top 100 Fastest-Growing Retailers report, which ranks publicly traded retailers on year-over-year net sales growth, we've chosen select companies on this year's list to profile. Our goal is to provide insights into how these retailers were able to grow sales (and in many cases net…

Brick-and-mortar stores are on the nice list this year by gifting their customers with a truly remarkable experience: a holiday-inspired experiential in-store environment. Physical retailers need to stand out to attract shoppers during the busy rush of the holiday season. According to eMarketer Retail, 2018 holiday e-commerce sales will expand at a rate of 15.3…

The store is more relevant than ever as customers now use it as an extension of the digital journey. To accommodate, retailers are required to not only implement increasingly sophisticated digital solutions in their stores, but in many cases redesign all or part of their brick-and-mortar presence to enable these new digital capabilities. With a strong economy and, for most retailers, a realization that they must reassess their strategy, 2019 will be a healthy year for in-store investments.